Coating Concrete -- the Reflecting Pool

In my career, I've been involved in quite a few large concrete petrol tank containment coating projects, new and refurbishment. I've been involved in coating concrete wastewater tanks. Occasionally, something went wrong. I'm not guessing.

 There are many things that can result in peeling, all preventable.

• The concrete was not dry. Concrete absorbs water, and in the ground like that, takes considerable time to dry. They rushed it.
• Incompatible with previous coating. The prior coating was asphaltic, and for the pretty blue polyurethane to stick, it would have required complete removal. I bet they missed some patches. If they missed a lot, there will be a lot of pealing. I'm guessing, he wanted pretty blue and 
• Asphaltic coatings don't come in pretty blue. Mostly, they come in black. But Trump insisted.
• The contractor, selected by a no-bid (corrupt), no due diligence process, is a pool contractor, not an industrial coatings contractor, and he was not familiar with asphalt coatings or how they are applied. 
• Assorted application errors. Incorrect mixing is common. This would also explain patchy peeling.

Maybe all of these. It does not have to be one thing. Poor contractor engineering supervision is the common thread.

The repairs are going to be very expensive. Lots of surface prep. They should probably remove the entire coating and start over. A real screw-up. I know, I've seen it before. Trump needs to own the whole thing. He picked the contractor.

By the way, scratching it with a knife is not a cause. If I key the paint on your car it won't peel. That's just dumb and defies the plainest common sense. Just a blatant misdirection play rooted in untruth. Obvious. Not surprising. Better to just own the problem and fix it. I would respect that.

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Also, to add enough peroxide to make a difference in a 50 million pound pool of water (which is also constantly exchanged with Potomac river water through the tidal basin--separate subject) would require at least 10 ppm as peroxide, or about  50 x 10 x (1/0.12) = 4200 gallon jugs of peroxide. A few gallons from the water's edge changed anything. It would require a tanker load. Several of the wastewater plants I work with have bulk tanks because the get it by the tanker. No one buys jugs. Just ridiculous. Someone must have been yelling at the poor guy to "Do something!"